Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch

Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | PositioningpaperBuilding on these success stories, the Sustainable Tourism Network of Southern Africa(STNSA) was established in 2007 to create a platform for improved coordination betweensustainable tourism stakeholders located in the Southern African Development Community(SADC). The STNSA operated informally, bringing together tourism boards and ministries,certification programmes and NGOs to share best practice and respond to trends in theexternal environment. The STNSA served as a focal point for its members to engage with theTSC/GST-Council, particularly with regard to the design of the GSTC accreditation system.The STNSA became inactive in 2010, due to a lack of resources as well as a lack of consensus asto what should be the strategic focus of the Network. However, the Network was re-launchedin May 2012 as the Sustainable Tourism Certification Alliance Africa (STCAA), with clearermembership criteria and a new strategic focus on the SCP enabling environment.These three examples of regional networks in Latin America, Europe and Africa demonstratethe value of cross-border collaboration for the tourism certification sector. The weaknesses ofnetworking as a strategy for collaboration include over-dependence on one or moreorganisations to drive activities (usually the Secretariat) and dependence on external funding.Networks only “work” when members get value from them.Lessons from FairtradeFairtrade is a worldwide trading partnership comprised of producers in developing countries;traders and retailers; and national licensing initiatives whose role is develop demand forsixteen categories of fairly traded products including coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa and compositeproducts like confectionaries. The first Labelling organization was Max Havelaar in Holland,launched in November 1988. Nine years later the Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO)established in 1997. Fairtrade is managed globally under the auspices of the Fairtrade LabellingOrganisations (FLO), also known as Fairtrade International.Global sales of Fairtrade products were measured at €4.36 billion in 2010, up by 28% on theprevious year, demonstrating resilience even in difficult economic times. Impressively, theinternational Fairtrade mark is recognized by 96% of British, 90% of Swiss, 75% of Dutch and69% of German consumers (Globescan 2011).Harriet Lamb, Director of the very successful UK Fairtrade Foundation, opened World 2011Responsible Tourism Day in London, and challenged the travel and tourism industry to seekinspiration from Fairtrade (Lamb, 2011). Lamb spoke passionately about the power ofFairtrade to transform the ordinary act of doing the household shopping into extraordinarybenefits for producers in the Global South. These benefits are manifest in fairer tradingconditions, long-term trading partnerships and the creation of new resources for sustainabledevelopment through the Fairtrade premium, a portion of the price paid to producers that isreserved for Fairtrade beneficiaries (workers and communities) to invest in education,community health and other types of social infrastructure and in the case of cooperatives,business development.There are obviously many parallels between Fairtrade and sustainability standards and labelsin tourism as well as the trend towards traveller’s philanthropy. A critical success factor ofFairtrade lies in strong coordination between national labelling initiatives including new onesin the South, most notably Fairtrade Label South Africa (FLSA). Another hallmark ofFairtrade’s success is the creation of a single, well known and highly trusted label. This successhas been underpinned by professionalization of Fairtrade based on the principles of ISO65, sothat certification is divorced from market development to avoid conflict of interest.During 2006-2009, Fairtrade International conducted feasibility research that demonstratedstrong potential demand for Fairtrade travel (Zonneveld, 2008). That tens of millions of loyal70